Hard And Fast by Lisa Renee Jones

Author:Lisa Renee Jones [Jones, Lisa Renee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2007-07-31T23:00:00+00:00

11

REACHING FOR the takeout coffee cup perched on the edge of her desk, Amanda took a sip. She winced at the bitter taste of the too-strong brew. It was 8:00 a.m. after a night of too little sleep and no matter how bad the flavor, she needed the caffeine. She’d gotten up early to meet Laura only to have her leave a message canceling while Amanda was in the shower.

Since she was already awake and not likely to return to sleep with Brad on her mind, she had come in to work. Focusing on her computer screen, Amanda ground her teeth and hit the Delete button. Her column ran tomorrow and it needed to be brilliant. So far she wasn’t off to a great start. She had an idea, but not the spin that really made it edgy.“Coffee has arrived.” Reggie held two grande Starbucks cups.

“Oh, my God, I love you.”

He grinned. “White mocha or caramel macchiato. I’m fine with either.”

“White mocha, please.” He handed her the cup and she took a long sip. “That is so good.”

“I’m addicted,” Reggie confessed. “I swear they drug the stuff. Some say Starbucks is a cult, you know.”

“Cult? You’re kidding.”

He gave her a serious look. “They say the drinks have some special ingredient that makes you want more.”

She wasn’t quite sure she’d heard right. “You’re telling me you believe an entire chain would drug their coffee.”

“Something makes it addictive,” he said, his expression still dead serious.

She shook her head in disbelief, staring at him as she searched for mischief and found it. “The drug is called caffeine and I’m a willing addict. And until I’ve had mine, I suggest you don’t give me a hard time.”

Reggie started laughing. “All right, all right. I’ll go easy on you the rest of the morning.” He grabbed a chair from the cubicle beside hers and sat. “I figured you’d need a boost after a night at the bar. So. Tell me everything.”

Amanda took another sip to break eye contact so he wouldn’t figure out everything amounted to more than she was willing to share. “Well, let’s see. Jack was an ass, as usual.”

Reggie snorted. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Here’s an interesting subject. One of the groupies was hanging all over Tony.”

He made a face. “Like I said, tell me something I don’t know.”

“Will you just wait? I’m getting to it.”

Reggie took a drink as he waved her on.

“She was hanging all over Tony but he was more interested in another woman,” Amanda continued. “I didn’t think much about it at the time. But a couple of hours after I left, she called me.”

“And?”

She detailed the call and the cancellation that morning. “Needless to say, I’m tired and frustrated. Part of me was glad she pulled a no-show. I don’t like the idea of getting a story through an ex-lover and that’s how this is feeling. And this is so bad—” she hated admitting this out loud, hated what the competition was doing to her “—but another part of me worried she went to Jack instead.

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